‘Boutique' is for clothing — not for gasoline

Drivers of a certain age will recall when there were only two types of gasoline: regular and high-test. Today, government mandates across the USA have spawned more than a dozen categories of special gasolines, known as “boutique” fuels. Each comes in multiple octane grades and varies slightly with the seasons of the year. These requirements strain the nation's overstretched refineries, contribute to high gasoline prices and cause inefficient distribution. Each day, for example, millions of gallons flow through pipeline past Atlanta on the way from the Gulf Coast to the Northeast. Little of this fuel can be used in Atlanta, however, because it's a conventional formulation, and the city requires a special kind of gas to meet its air pollution needs. Fuel produced in some East Coast refineries, meanwhile, travels out of the region because it's made for the needs of other communities. These individualized fuels are not wholly without merit. Places such as Southern California, for instance, have intense smog problems that require ultraclean gasoline. But what started as a sound idea has spun out of control as states have rushed forward to adopt their own fuel requirements. There are 15 or 16 categories of boutique fuel, depending on how they are counted. Gasoline is becoming like coffee at Starbucks — unnecessarily complex and pricey. The state and local fuel mandates are being driven as much by politics and budgetary concerns as by air pollution. They have helped to raise the price of gas by at least several cents a gallon while not always having a positive air quality benefit. In some cases, these requirements are seen as an alternative to comprehensive pollution control efforts. Ohio, for instance, is considering a mandate for a special kind of gasoline to make up for its decision to eliminate statewide tailpipe emissions testing. In other states, these mandates are simply an excuse to reward key constituencies. The ethanol lobby, which had been content with federal requirements in the 1990 Clean Air Act, has been busy pushing states to adopt their own mandates. Montana, Hawaii, Minnesota and Colorado have done so already, and several others are considering such action. Of these, Hawaii has to be the oddest. It is hoping to develop a sugar-based ethanol industry. But for now, nearly 10% of its fuel will be shipped in by train and boat from ethanol plants in the Midwest....